Savella-- Anyone taking it? Need some support

Hi Judy,

It probably is going to take six to eight weeks for Savella to reach it's full potential. I don't know how long you have been on it, so I don't know if you are beyond that point, It could very well be that it isn't the right med for you. There are many others that you can try. I find norco works good for my fibro pain. I take pristiq, abilify and xanax for depression. I don't know if any of them help with fibro pain though.

I hope that you find what works for you, like I say, there are many. I hope that you are feeling better. Keep posting and tell us a little more aobut the situation. For example, how long you have been on the savella.

Thanks for posting.

Hugs, Karen

Hi Judy,

I don't take savella. I just know that it take six to eight weeks for these types of meds to reach their full potential.

But if you have tried three times, you might want to try something different all together. Or maybe just keep it at a low dose. It is hard sometimes you feel like a guinie pig. Especially with fibromyalgia. There is so little it seems that helps us. Have you ever tried pain meds? Or are you trying to stay away from them? Some people don't want to go that route.

I find that walking helps me a lot. So I try to do that. I use to do so much and cross country ski in the winter. I can't so that anymore. But I try to get myself to every winter. Maybe one day I can. I wont get rid of my skis. We have long winters where I live so they are hard. I am glad I can come here to the forum. It helps get me through.

I hope that you have a good and painfree day.

Hugs, Karen

At the top of the page in small letters, there is a google custom search. I typed in savella and it brought up a few things, so try that out. You will find other posts on savella. I hope that it helps you.

Tramadol didn't do a thing for me. It didn't make me sleepy or anything. It was like taking nothing at all. Have you tried the malic acid/magnesium supplement that is on fibro101 thread on the fibro forum? It takes a few weeks, but I noticed my muscles feeling better from the magnesium right away. The problem for me with supplements is that I don't always take them consistantly. If I run out, I forget to buy more. Then I forget about it completely. But I did notice I felt better with the malic/magnesium. I use vitamin D3 too. It gives me a little energy and gives me an all around good feeling. I am not out in the sun a lot because I can't tolerate the heat or humidity. And I must say I don't envy you in the least having to live in that kind of heat. And humidity. That bothers me more than the heat. I have winter to look forward to as I live in MI. The cold is hard on me. But I have lived here all my life. So I try to endure. I love the changing of the seasons. But it does seem to rain a lot when they change and that is hard on me.

I hope that you find the information that you are looking for. Keep trying with the lower dose and see if it kicks in for you..... I hope that you feel better soon.

Hugs, Karen.

PS I just realized that you found it. Duh... But I still wanted to post, so I kept the info in there...

I enjoy writing. The d that you got was probably from the magnesium. Did you start out really slow. I did and that helped that not to happen. But maybe you are sensitive to the magnesium or something and it effects you that way.

I take calcium with 800 iu of D plus 2000iu D3. So I hope that is enough. I just did a month of 50,000iu because I was so low in it. I have to admit I do feel a lot better when I remember to take it. I put it in my pill box with my other meds now. I can usually find deals of two for one at Walmart. Plus it is very inexpensive to begin with. I am glad...

I feel for you being in the heat. We can use the air conditioning, but that sometimes makes me hurt more. But the heat exhausts me so which is worse? I can handle pain better than I can handle the fatigue. I have always been that way since I have had fibro. Mine started in about 2002. It kind of snuck up on me, but when it did, it hit with full force. It took me a long time to get a diagnosis. But once I did, I was seeking information on it. I use to get the fibromyalgia network newsletter. It is a rerally good magazine, but you only get four issues a year and it is around 25.00 or more probably now. But it does have a lot of information in it. Things that I barely understand, but you probably would. I found a lot of it easy to read, but there is a lot of technical stuff and studies that I don't understand. But it was nice to be on top of things with the newsletter.

Well, I hope that you have a good evening. It is a pleasure to chat with you. I hope that you stick around.

Hugs, Karen

You click on that button and it takes you there and lets you know who is in what room. Then if you want to chat, you sign in your user name and pass word and you can chat. You can pm on there too. Most people chat in the evenings.

I hope that you try it.

Hugs, Karen

You are very welcome. Have a great day today! Hoping it is painfree, or as close as you can get to it.

Hugs, Karen

I want to go to Hawaii too!!!

I know what you mean. Between depression and fibro I take about ten different things, that includes blood pressure meds and cholesterol. But not counting my supplements. I feel like I get a meal when I take my morning meds. That is when I take the most. But it keeps me moving and that is what is important. I have been on the same things for a long time. And I think it keeps my pain levels down to a minimum. I still have pain, but I can tolerate it. I would say on a pain scale I am about a three or four.

Cymbalta is a hard medication to to discontinue once you start it. I think that gives it a pretty bad rap, but I took effexor and went off of it once and that wasn't any fun either.

Hope that you are having a good day.

Hugs, Karen

I have never had these types of drugs help my pain that I know of. I seem to need pain pills. I take norco and that seems to help me. It is a 10mg vicodin. Have you ever tried it? I don't know why doctors don't want to give pain meds to fibro patients. It is beyond me. But until I got the norco, I was in constant pain. I still have pain but it is manageable. It might be something you want to look into, it is a weaker narcotic. But it helps.

I hope that you feel better soon.

Hugs, Karen

I find the norco gives me a little energy. It has tylenol in it too. It doesn't cloud my head up. No pain killers do. I have more problems with the anti depressants messing me up. And neurontin, I couldn't function on that. I have osteo arthritis too and I take celebrex for that but not often. It effects my stomache if I take it a lot. I have heard of tramadol making people woosy. It iddn't effect that way with me, in fact it did nothing. I went the whole route with this until they tried vicodin. It helped me but not enough. I am achey today because the temps dropped a lot. Went from 85 to 50 or less. Give or take a few degrees. I feel my shoulders stiffening up on me. That is where most of my pain is. And in my left arm. High up by the shoulder. Also my neck gets tight. I use to take soma for muscle relaxer but my new doc took me off of it. So I just try to do meditation to relax my muscles. It does help. They think of soma as a buzz drug. I can see why. But I didn't like the feeling. And found out if you take it with food it didn't act that way. It is a good muscle relaxer for me though. Better than flexeril. Flexeril makes me sleepy. I wont take it because it gives me a hangover type feeling. I can't get going in the mornings. I am slow today. Still haven't gotten dressed. Got to do that and walk the dog. Then peel some applea for apple sauce.

I think that you will find, if you ever do it, that drugs like morphine is what messes you up. They make you want to sleep. The only really bad thing with narcotics is that they can cause depression. So the anti depressants may have to be raised. I think though it depends on what you take and how much. But norco is very low on the pain med scale, some doctors don't even think of it as a narcotic. Remember norco is just strong vicodin. But some people are more sensitive to it than others. So it may effect them differently. I had one doctor refer to it as "like a narcotic drug". It is hard to find a doctor who will prescribe anything other than tramadol and flexeril for fibromyalgia. I got lucky. But I don't think my doc would prescribe anything stronger than that for me. But I can live with a little pain. I also take adderall for fatigue. It really helps. I was in bed for close to two years before I got something for fatigue. I can handle pain much more than that feeling of exhaustion. I just can't take feeling all weak and tired. The adderall can make the pain worse though. It seems that no matter what you take there is a side effect to it. That is what makes it so hard. I tried many antidepressants but the side effects would prevent me from taking them. Finally effexor worked for me. Now I take pristiq. It works well. I take abilify too. It is a mood stabilizer for me. And it makes the pristiq work better. So that is a win win situation.

I hope that you do find what works for you with your pain and depression. Keep posting. I enjoy reading what you write. I think with fibro and depression, it is a visciouis cycle. ONe effects the other. So you really have to stay on top of everything...

Best wishes for a pain free day.

Oh do you take vitamin D3? You may not need it but most fibromites do. I find it helps me feel better and gives me a little energy too. It might help you. Do you get your levels checked? I do periodically.

Take care,

Hugs, Karen

I hate changing doctors or losing one. My last doctor retired, I am seeing a new one now. Well I have been seeing him for a year, but only once every three months. So we still don't really know eachother that well. He seems to be very nice though.

One thing for a medical doctor. Make sure that they believe in and treat fibromyalgia patients. My psychiatrist is "mind and body" so he treats my fibromyalgia as well which helps. He prescribes the adderall for me. But my family doctor treats my pain.

Are you noticing anything from the Savella? I know it takes awhile to reach it's full potential, but often we start feeling better before hand. Let us know how that is going.

Thank you for the compliment. Some days are better than others. I do like to type, so it is fun. I don't know a lot about technical things with fibro. I use to get a magazine and was up on all the new stuff. But now I just know what I went through and I try to share that. There are many who are against meds for fibro. But I just say to each their own. I do know that walking helps me. Moving around and gentle stretching (which I don't do nearly enough). I try to drink a lot of water to keep my muscles hydrated. It seems to help in a lot of ways.

Take care Judy, keep posting.

Hugs, Karen

hi big
well shows you what both my Drs. know...internist and rheumy
why can't we just got to the dr and get FIXED
i'm really getting so very tired of this.
thanks for the info
somethings I've read said it was a anti-d
we're just Guinea pigs anyway